Detectives Aligned
by MeridianGrimm
Summary: Hakuba Saguru and Edogawa Conan's professional respect for each other evolves over time into something deeper. [Oneshot, not shouta]


Disclaimer: I don't own DC or MK. This story and my other SaguShin fic, "Like-minded", are separate, but if you like this, you'll probably enjoy "Like-minded" too. This is a boy-on-boy romance, so if that's not your cup of tea, please don't leave negative comments. Happy reading!

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Hakuba had just noticed the Mouris walk in the door when a body hit the ground. He just sighed and rolled his eyes before heading for the corpse. _I suppose Mouri-san _does_ have appallingly bad luck_. Hakuba had been talking in his father's office earlier in the day when a call came in from Megure-keibu. The half-British detective hadn't been _eavesdropping,_ per se, but he hadn't left the room either when his dad took the call.

"Ah, Megure-keibu. Yes. Yes, it's been a long time. Okay…" he paused as the other inspector explained his reason for calling. "What were those names again? Mouri and Edogawa?" He chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind. Right. See you later."

"Is something wrong with Edogawa-kun?" Hakuba asked when he hung up. The child was surprisingly insightful during the few times they'd met. He'd seemed like a good kid.

"No. Megure just wanted to warn me that they'd be at the celebration this evening – Ekoda is hosting it this year."

Hakuba had been invited to the event, held as an acknowledgement of outstanding figures in law enforcement, for some of the more public cases he'd solved. "Warn you? Why?"

"You've read about the Sleeping Detective Mouri Kogoro in the newspapers, right?" _Yes, and it's the most absurd thing I've ever heard of. Solving cases while… asleep? There's no logic to explain that._ Mouri hadn't even seemed exceptionally bright during the Sunset Manor case. Everyone else had figured out that the invitation was from "Kaitou Kid," even though the culprit was just borrowing the name. "Megure tells me that Mouri-san has an unnatural habit of running across murders. He's even started to rub off on that child he's taking care of. Megure suggested I have an ambulance standing by at the event."

"Will you?"

"Maybe," his father replied, but it was the kind of "maybe" that actually meant "no." "Megure is probably exaggerating. Beika has a higher murder rate than Ekoda, so I'm sure it just seems like Mouri-san runs into an unusual number of cases."

Unfortunately, Hakuba's father was wrong, and Hakuba whipped out a pair of gloves to examine the corpse. Only 10.654 seconds passed before he heard someone kneel down beside him. "It's been a while, Edogawa-kun. Are you well?"

"Yes," the tiny detective replied absently. Then, about the deceased, he began, "What was the time of death? I'm sure you know what time she fell over."

"9:35pm and 3 seconds exactly."

Conan pointed out the glass that had fallen from her hand. "It's likely that she was poisoned, since there are no external wounds."

"I made a note of that as well. What do you think about this –"

"Hey, Ku– Conan-kun," a voice piped up from behind them. Hakuba had to force himself not to jump. "Wasn't expecting you t' show up." _Oh, great. Hattori Heiji. Just what this night needed._

Conan swiveled around. "Heiji-niichan, did Hakuba-keibu have the room cordoned off? This woman's been poisoned."

"Naw, but Dad's on it. I've hung out with you long enough for him to know that you can't go anywhere without tripping over a body." He shook his head. "Kudo…"

"Shinichi-niichan isn't here," Conan interrupted irately. "Stop mentioning him."

Hakuba frowned, distracted from the mundane case in front of him –_ boyfriend did it, victim wanted to go back to her husband, poison in the ice cubes, fingerprints on the glass, suspicious-looking waiter, case closed –_ by the real mystery. "I've noticed that too, Hattori-kun, it's always Kudo this, Kudo that with you. Is he your idol or something?" For some reason, Conan started laughing at that, in the loud, unabashed way that children can. The kid ended up bent over double, wiping tears from his eyes as Hattori hastily denied the statement.

"He's _not_ my idol! He's my _rival!_ I don't look up to that idiot at all." The wide hand-gestures accompanying his words were desperate, and it looked like the dark-skinned teen was blushing. _There's something I'm missing._ Well, Hakuba liked mysteries as much as the next detective… he'd just have to get the reason from them.

Conan partially recovered, a sparkle of amusement in his eyes. "Hakuba-niichan, we're not laughing at _you_. Shinichi-niichan is going to –" he started snickering again. "He's never going to let Heiji-niichan forget about this once he's heard."

"Not his idol... you mention him an _awful_ lot to be just an acquaintance. Is he your best friend, then? Cousin? Lover?"

Both Hattori and Conan responded with horrified looks at the last suggestion. "_Never_ say that again," Hattori choked out.

"Yeah, that's not even _funny_," Conan agreed, voice strangled. Then, brightly, he added, "Shinichi-niichan could do so much better than him."

Hattori growled at the child. "Brat, I could carry out the perfect murder. Don't tempt me."

"I'd leave a message that poked holes in your alibi," Conan shot back childishly, sticking his tongue out. "Nice try, 'Kudo of the West'." Before Hattori could attempt to strangle the kid, Hakuba-keibu showed up to hear what his son had observed.

"What's Kudo-kun like?" Hakuba asked when the victim's ex-boyfriend had been arrested and the detective pair was waiting to have their statements taken. Hattori had bopped Conan playfully on the head before heading out with his father, so their table was mercifully free of hot-tempered Osakans. "I haven't heard much about him, apart from Hattori-kun's declarations that he practically hung the moon, and that he's been out of the spotlight for over a year."

"Imagine me in ten years and you'll have a pretty good picture of him," Conan replied casually.

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

"Kudo sounds a bit like a recluse. Avoiding everything, even casework, for a whole year. You, on the other hand, are out and about fairly often, running over crime scenes and watching for suspicious people."

"Some people believe that he's dead," Conan offered.

Hakuba rolled his eyes. "You and Hattori-kun talk about him like he's right around the corner."

"Yeah, well, a person can't lose _all_ contact with the world. It's not healthy. Anyway, how's the Kid hunt going?"

Hakuba gritted his teeth. "About as successful as always."

"My sincere condolences. I read the news article about the last case, where he –"

"I'm trying to forget that part. _That_ prank was nightmare fuel for a week." And Hakuba was going to catch Kuroba if it was the last thing he did.

"Yeesh. Guess they had to edit that for print." There was a long, drawn out silence. "So, I've heard you're a Holmes fan?"

"Yes." Hakuba smiled. "I've been told I could go on for hours about his adventures. But before I do: have you read him?"

"Have I read him? Hakuba-niichan, do you know my name?" Ah, so Conan _was_ for Conan Doyle. Hakuba had wondered.

"Yes, but most seven-year-olds haven't had enough experience with kanji to read all the stories."

"I read it in English," Conan retorted, almost offended at the notion of not studying the original text.

_That_ little tidbit was even more interesting to the half-English detective. Conan's talents apparently didn't end with his keen eye and excellent vocabulary. "Really? Do you speak it often?"

"English? Not much opportunity to practice here, except when tourists ask for directions."

"If you want to, I could help. It's is my first language and I miss it."

"Certainly," Conan agreed, switching to English. "I'd like to brush up on it."

Hakuba switched too. "You even have the contractions down. I'm impressed."

"Thank you."

Hakuba heard a phone vibrate, but checked and it wasn't his. The tiny detective glared at his phone. "Everything okay, Edogawa-kun?"

"Just Hattori being a brat."

"And that's unusual?" Conan chuckled once, and Hakuba listened to the kid tap away on the phone's keyboard.

Mouri Ran approached, sitting beside Conan and starting, "Did you call Agasa-hakase to remind him that he's babysitting you tomorrow?"

Conan looked thunderous, slipping the red phone into his left pocket. "I'm _not_ an infant. I'm going over to spend the day with Haibara-chan. _Not_ to be babysat." Hakuba bit his lip to hide a grin at the unusual display of childishness in the generally mature seven-year-old.

"Call him," Ran repeated, firm but not unkind. "And when you're done, I'd like to ask him about whether he's heard from Shinichi." Hakuba almost didn't notice that Conan pulled the phone out of his right pocket, but then he mentally replayed the sequence of events. _I'd swear that Edogawa-kun put it in his _left_ pocket._

His detective mind automatically leapt into action, and concluded that there were three possibilities: that Conan had taken up magic tricks and had mastered some slight-of-hand; that Hakuba just hadn't paid attention when Conan switched pockets – though the half-Brit couldn't fathom a reason for the sudden change; and lastly: that there were two phones.

Hakuba looked back at the boy, chatting away on his mobile device, and observed the phone-sized bulge in the kid's left pocket. Two identical phones being hidden from his guardians? Edogawa Conan might be even more interesting than he'd realized.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

"Hakuba-niichan, let go!"

"I'm not going to do that when you're hanging off a _cliff,_ Edogawa-kun."

"I've got your wrist, but I need something with a sharp edge." The two looked down at the lead weight suspended from a rope around Conan's ankle.

"Right." Hakuba paused. "_Don't let go._"

"Oh, well now that you've _said_ so, I suppose I should hold on." Conan felt Hakuba's grip shift as one hand released him, and even though he was expecting it, a spike of fear still zipped through his body. He watched as Hakuba slowly moved his hand back toward his pocket, trying to avoid upsetting the tenuous balance they'd achieved. Conan's arms trembled as the mass of lead seemed to get heavier. _I've been here too long. My grip won't last in this body._ Well, if Conan was going to fall, he wasn't taking Hakuba with him, promises to hold on be damned.

"Got it," Hakuba breathed, and Conan relaxed just a little. "Edogawa-kun, you'll have to let go with one hand. I'm sorry." _That means we'll only be connected by one of his hands and my irritatingly weak one._

"Not much choice," Conan reminded him. "I won't make it until the police catch up. Assuming they can even find us in these woods." Against the wildly powerful instincts of his body screaming at him to hang on, Conan reached up with his right hand to take the open pocketknife from the other detective. His hands trembled, but gripped the tool tightly. Raising his left leg, which felt like lifting three dozen or so bricks, the Beikan began to saw at the cord connecting him to the weight. "Be ready when it snaps," Conan warned. "It would be a shame if we held on this long and then you accidentally dropped me because of the jarring weight change."

"Ready." After two minutes that lasted a lifetime, the rope's integrity failed, and the weight fell noiselessly until it struck the top branches of the rest of the forest below. Conan released a breath that felt as heavy as the lead had.

"Okay. We're good now. Can you pull me up?" Instead of answering, Hakuba used both hands to haul the much-lighter Conan back onto the ledge, the smaller detective sprawled on the ground next to the half-Brit. The detective of the East looked over at Hakuba, who was lying on his back in the grass, eyes closed in relief. _Whoa. Hakuba's beautiful from this angle._ Then his mind caught up with the errant thought, and he snapped his gaze up to the tree cover, frowning. _Where did that come from?_

Conan took a moment to really _feel_ the grass underneath him and hear the scuttling squirrels nearby. _I almost didn't make it this time._ He took a few deep breaths. _I'm not going to die as Conan._ The thought resonated so strongly in him that for a moment he thought he'd spoken out loud. But Hakuba was still tranquil, which he wouldn't be if Conan had actually spoken such a seemingly bizarre statement.

"How did _you_ figure out it was the victim's brother?" Hakuba asked conversationally. "I figured it out when he let slip something about the crime scene that, upon reflection, an innocent man could not easily have deduced. However, you were already out here at the culprit's bolt hole when that happened."

"Two-inch nail under the door to the study and the hairclip in the garden. She overheard something about the smuggling ring he ran through his legitimate businesses."

Hakuba nodded, understanding. "Good observations. It's unfortunate that the criminal had a 7-minute 3.05-second head start on me, otherwise I would have told the police _before_ I went to search for the other bodies and they likely would have caught him before he got to his hiding spot and found you poking around."

"What, you don't like a bit of fun on cases? A little adrenaline and heart-wrenching terror is good for the soul." Hakuba laughed with Conan. "Seriously, though, solving murders is much more interesting than school, don't you agree?"

"Hmm, so you're an adrenaline junkie, Edogawa-kun?"

"No, just someone who loves puzzles. I think you can understand that." The taller detective nodded in agreement.

Eventually, Conan sat up and rubbed his ankle, looking around to get his bearings. The lead weights and rope had been stored with the bodies because the culprit had planned to sink the bodies in the river. A surprised Conan hadn't been able to produce a soccer ball before he was being tied to a weight and Hakuba showed up and the criminal threatened to drop the kid over the cliff.

"He went east," Hakuba disclosed, reading Conan's movements. "We should get back to the mansion now that we're safe and let the officers know." The Beikan nodded and they left.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Hakuba was going to strangle the next Kid fangirl that came within three feet of him. Already he'd passed hordes of girls giggling about how _cool_ the thief was and how much more competent he was than the police. And Kuroba always looked so damn _smug_ the days after a heist.

"Do you have a plan?" a voice asked, and Hakuba looked down to see Conan standing next to him, hands in pockets.

"Well, since I'm fairly certain you're not Kid, I can tell you that I don't. Kid sent his heist note late this time, and I had a research paper for Japanese history. Took forever."

"I know how that is," Conan commiserated.

Hakuba tried not to look incredulous. "Lots of research papers to write in Teitan Elementary?"

Conan caught the sarcasm, eyes glinting in shared amusement. "I tend to write longer papers than other students. Sometimes ten sentences about a topic I'm interested in just doesn't quite do it for me."

"Best student in the class?"

"Tied with Haibara Ai-chan."

"Is she another aspiring detective?"

Conan made a face. "There's no 'aspiring' about it; I _am_ a detective, like you are. But to answer your question, no, she's not interested in detective work, as much as Ayumi-chan might try to rope her into the Detective Boys. She's more of a chemist."

"The Detective Boys?"

"Yeah, three other kids in my grade who like solving mysteries." Conan rolled his eyes. "The amount of trouble I have to get them out of…"

"You're no stranger to trouble yourself. It comes with the job."

"The difference is, I know how and when to get myself out of dangerous situations." Then he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Mostly. The, ah, situation with the lead weight had extenuating circumstances. I wasn't expecting him to come back until the police were gone." Conan paused. "I don't think I ever thanked you for rescuing me then. That's a huge oversight on my part. So. Thank you."

The somber sincerity in this small child was endearing. "Anytime, Edogawa-kun."

Conan nodded once. "Moving back to my original question, I was wondering if you would be interested in putting a plan into action with me to catch Kid." A dark smile crossed his face. "He wants a critic, we'll give him two."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Kid likes aerobatics. As tonight's heist location has several skylights in the ceiling, I was thinking we could… sabotage them. I have several bottles of water-soluble glue that we could use. Kid can pick any lock in his path, but if the window physically won't open, then he'll have to improvise and find an alternate escape route quickly during the heist, unless he wants to break the glass. We could predict what his next exit strategy would be and wait there."

"That's clever, but I'm not sure the museum would allow that."

Conan smiled as if _Hakuba_ were the naïve one. "Why would we tell them? The glue's water soluble, so the next time it rains, the windows will be functional again. And I can't imagine they'd be angry if a little bit of glue is the reason Kid is caught. The publicity alone, that Kaitou Kid was captured at _their museum,_ would be tremendous."

"Huh. I never realized how sneaky you were, Edogawa-kun."

"Is that a yes?"

"I'm not letting you take all the credit for catching Kid." The thief got away, as all anti-phantom plans tended to end, but it was a close thing. Hakuba had actually seen the sweat on Kid's face as he realized that two of his detectives were waiting for him at the secondary escape route with gas masks. Conan locked the door as soon as Kid entered, which was more of a psychological move than an actual deterrent if Kid wanted to leave the way he'd come.

Kid's beam was forced. "What a pleasant surprise."

"I'm afraid we can't agree with that assessment," Hakuba responded with a smile full of teeth. "We fully expected to see you in here this evening."

Kid's eyes changed to predatory. "Is that so? I'd _hate_ to be predictable." Hakuba suddenly got a Very Bad Feeling, and in an instant pink smoke filled the room. The gas masks, while keeping the detectives from passing out, didn't account for the lack of visibility. When the smoke cleared, Kid was gone and Conan was dressed in red shorts, a long black shirt, white gloves, and Mickey Mouse ears.

"We were _so close._" Hakuba took a deep breath to keep from screaming. "That stupid thief– I can't – I'm going to– " He broke off, mentally cursing out whatever luck god the phantom thief prayed to.

"I think the phrase you're looking for is 'Gorsh, Mickey'."

"What?" Hakuba finally looked down at himself: orange shirt, black vest, blue pants and – he felt his head – long ears and a hat. Goofy. _Very funny, Kuroba_.

"It looks like someone's been to Tokyo's Disney recently." Conan unlocked the door and held it open.

"We'll catch him someday," Hakuba assured Conan.

"Better us than the snipers," the child declared as the two exited, beginning the search for their original clothes.

"Right." Hakuba always felt queasy thinking about Kuroba in the crosshairs of some outlaw group. "Perseverance is a trait a detective can't live without," he agreed, hoping to move to lighter topics.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

"Damn, Hakuba-niichan, he got you but good."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hakuba replied in English as he crashed into another wall. "And children shouldn't swear."

Nine hours earlier, this whole mess started with Uncle Kogoro taking on a favor for his beloved Yoko-chan. "I'm worried about an old friend of mine, Shimomura Sakura. Her late husband, Yoshirou, had believed that he was being followed to and from work for several weeks. She dismissed it as him being paranoid until the day he was killed. It's been eight months since then and she hasn't got a decent night's sleep, wondering if her daughters might be next. Would you please go to her house and look around to see if she has anything to be anxious about? If the murder is solved, she might find some peace." Kogoro – with Ran and Conan in tow – had driven out to Gunma.

The group approached the doorstep to find someone with light hair already ringing the doorbell. "Hakuba-niichan?"

The teen turned around, surprised. "Edogawa-kun? And Mouri-san and Mouri-chan? What are you doing here?"

"We're here to solve an eight-month-old crime," Conan told him brightly.

"How interesting. So am I." Hakuba had been hired by the Shimomuras to solve Yoshirou's murder too. Plans were made for both detectives to investigate different places in Yoshirou's life the next day, and Sakura invited over a few friends for dinner so that if there was someone still watching the house, Hakuba and the Mouris' arrival wouldn't look odd.

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how one viewed it – among the guests was the stalker and eventual murderer of Shimomura Yoshirou, a man by the name of Matsuoka Kazuo. During dinner, the criminal spiked Hakuba's lemonade. _It makes sense, actually. Since Kogoro was acting like an idiot as usual in front of the Shimomura's daughters and their friends, he must have figured that Hakuba was his only real threat. _"The Sleeping Detective" had solved the case when it became apparent that something was very wrong with Hakuba. The ever-incompetent Yamamura-keiji had shown up and (amazingly) the correct person was eventually carted away in handcuffs. The few other men at the party took Kogoro out for drinks after the arrest was made, wanting to hear all about the deduction and congratulate him for solving the murder.

But there was still the matter of the two glasses of lemonade that Hakuba had finished, the unwelcome ingredient's taste likely covered by adding a boatload of extra sugar. Until the chaos of the arrest and police taking statements had passed, everyone seemed to forget about his condition. When reminded, Shimomura Sakura responded, "Oh, I think it would be easier if he stayed here for the night, and I would like to thank him tomorrow for his help in this case. He can get cleaned up here and get some rest before we send him home – it' the least I can do to apologize for Matsuoka's actions."

_It can't have been alcohol,_ Conan thought. _Hakuba only had two glasses and is completely sloshed. Even if he _is_ a lightweight, the criminals couldn't have predicted that for certain. They must have added something different to be sure of his complacence._ It turned out that Conan was right: a call to the police station and an officer who wasn't Yamamura interrogated the culprit, who gave the name of the drug he'd slipped Hakuba. The doctor they'd called claimed that since it was a small dose, the best way to get rid of it was to drink lots of water and sleep it off.

"The stairs are malignant," Hakuba declared (again in English), glaring.

"How so?" Conan replied in the same language.

"The second, fifth, and eleventh stairs are slightly higher than the rest of them."

"That makes them evil?"

"They _want_ me to trip over them."

Conan was fine with enjoying this a little, since Hakuba was rarely so absurd. "Okay, what about the walls? They seem to be very attracted to you this evening."

"Don't be silly, Edogawa-kun. Walls aren't alive." _But stairs are?_ Conan thought with amusement. "Do you know what else I noticed?" Hakuba plowed on. "Noises sound different depending on the direction they're moving in relative to a particular point, say, a person."

"And what have you concluded from that?" _Something about the Doppler effect…?_

"Ears are bizarre." _So it's not his observational skills that have been thrown off, it's the ability to make logical deductions from those observations that has been skewed._

Ran came out of the family room and noticed the other teenager's swaying in front of the stairs. "Hakuba-kun, will you be alright taking a bath by yourself? If you slip in the tub, we won't know something is wrong until a long time has passed." She frowned. "I'd ask my father to sit in the bathroom with a book or something, in case you fall, but he'll be even more out of it than you when he gets back."

"Well, _you_ can't go in there with him, Ran-neechan," Conan pointed out.

Ran looked down at him and smiled, patting his head. "You can go in, Conan-kun. Make sure you call for help if something happens, okay?"_ Walked right into that one._

Hakuba's hands looked too shaky for buttons. Conan sighed as he closed the door behind them. "Sit down, Hakuba-niichan. I'll help you get undressed."

Hakuba chuckled, and Conan's face turned bright red despite his best efforts. _I'm not a teenager right now, I'm a child, and a child wouldn't be turning red._ "I didn't realize that I had fooled you too, Edogawa-kun." _Oh, that's what he meant…_

"Wait. _What?"_

"Matsuoka Kazuo wasn't terribly subtle about slipping the drugs into my glass."

Conan followed that statement through to the obvious conclusion. "You faked it. Who's the sneaky one now?"

"Yes, I did. You were a little busy avoiding Mouri-san's fist at the time Matsuoka acted."

"But Matsuoka has been at the police station for half an hour," Conan growled. "Why are you still – " he stopped short and groaned. "His wife. She's in on it too." Hakuba was able to think quickly enough to mislead everyone. Conan respected that, knowing from personal experience how dangerous indecision could be in those situations. "How did you spot that? Her alibi was rock-solid, and her surprise seemed genuine when Kazuo was arrested in front of her."

"It wasn't surprise that he was the culprit, it was surprise that he got caught. I need time to come up with a plan before she leaves. The evidence I have against her so far is all circumstantial."

"Right. You take your bath to keep up appearances and we can brainstorm." The Beikan sat with his back against the outside of tub and the two detectives plotted. Hakuba toweled off and got dressed as they finishing discussing logistics, and Conan was suddenly fascinated with the wall tiles near the door.

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing."

"Are you sure?"

The shorter detective's face felt warm when he turned around. "Yup. It's just a little hot in here. The water let off a bunch of steam when you first got in." A tiny part of his mind wanted to crawl into the bath with Hakuba sans clothing. For a brief moment Conan was _very_ glad his body wasn't as mature as befit his real age. They had work to do.

Hakuba seemed to shrug off his doubt. "Okay, then," he said as he turned the doorknob.

"You know, I think you would be interesting to observe when you were actually drunk."

"And I'd love to see you on a sugar high. But let's go."

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Ran had nudged her father into offering Hakuba a ride home from the Shimomura case. While at a gas station in the middle of the mountains, a woman had recognized the famous Sleeping Detective and begged him to help her. Guests at her inn had been reporting that they saw spirits and images of dead bodies at night, at different times and in different rooms. Kogoro had accepted the case, but since it so far seemed that there weren't any _real_ dead bodies, the teen homicide detective had lost interest.

Kogoro had fallen asleep on the client's couch and Ran had been placed in a room with the owner's daughter and niece, so Hakuba, just returning to the boys' room from a 1am bathroom trip, was the only one who heard it. "No, don't!" It was Conan.

"Don't what?" Hakuba asked, approaching the kid's futon.

"Don't hurt them. They don't know about you, I swear."

"Edogawa-kun, are you awake?"

"Not my name," Conan muttered, turning over in his sleep. His face was scrunched up and he clutched at the blankets desperately.

"What's not your name?" No answer. The seven-year-old kept rolling over, not finding a comfortable spot. Hakuba sympathized with him. With all the things that Conan had seen, nightmares weren't really a surprise. _No one deserves this, especially not someone trying to bring integrity._ The boy cared for the people he helped, and he fully understood the reality of death – it wasn't just a game to him. For all the bravery Conan possessed when he was awake, he was still a child. That he experienced fear like a normal person was heartbreaking, but it also revealed Edogawa Conan's true strength of character. He stood against the world's darkness with nothing but his wits and the occasional soccer ball – _that_ was courage.

After another muffled sentence from the smaller detective, Hakuba crawled under the covers next to Conan, rubbing the Beikan's hands soothingly. He built up a rhythm with his thumbs, circling the child's palms and wrists. Eventually the lines disappeared from Conan's forehead, but his body was still tense. The taller detective wrapped his arms around Conan and held him until the boy relaxed and they both fell into deeper sleep.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Conan was about ready to throw a tantrum like a child the age he looked. He did _not_ want to go shopping in Ekoda with Sonoko and Ran. Sonoko was in her element, trying on expensive clothes and telling Ran she should ditch Shinichi and talking about the next time "her" Kaitou Kid was going to steal such-and-such a jewel. Ran, ever the good friend, was just going along with it, but Conan had never been close with Sonoko, not when he was Shinichi, and not now. So he wasn't going to put up with it a moment longer than he had to.

"I'm waiting outside," he told the girls, and left without waiting for an answer. There was a nice bench outside the store, where undoubtedly hundreds of fathers, husbands, and boyfriends had sat waiting for their enthusiastic shoppers to be finished. He spent the next ten minutes people-watching, but even that got boring.

A familiar face appeared in the crowd. Conan watched Hakuba as he walked alongside a girl wearing blue who was dragging an apparently unenthusiastic second companion along. Conan sympathized with the energetic brunette. The group approached the very store Ran and Sonoko were in, and the girl dropped her friend at the door and told him sternly not to wander off.

Hakuba spotted Conan and waved, approaching the bench without a thought for the recently-dropped friend. "What brings you to Ekoda?" He settled in next to Conan.

"Ran-neechan is shopping with Sonoko-neechan." He made a face. Before he could continue the exchange of pleasantries, however, he finally got a good look at the brunette, who bounded over to the bench. Those sharp blue eyes and enigmatic smile were vexingly familiar. _No way…_ "Kid?"

The teen didn't even miss a beat, bending down to offer a yellow rose and a wink. "No offense, cutie, but I think _you're_ the kid here."

"You're Kaitou Kid," Conan clarified, taking the rose. "I'm sure of it." _He looks so much like me. Teenage me._ Without warning, his whole mind ached to feel seventeen again. Being seventeen in a child's body was so stifling. There was so much difference in the way he saw the world, and the way the world saw him.

"Hakuba, I see you've been poisoning the next generation of detectives," the not-stranger observed, mock-pouting and giving the half-Brit a playful smack.

"I haven't said a word to Edogawa-kun about my theory that you're Kid, Kuroba-kun. He and I just happened to have made the same deduction." So Hakuba knew Kid's civilian identity. Interesting. "Perhaps you should start getting your alibis together," he suggested with a growing grin. "If two of us figured it out, then you can expect that more will."

Kuroba made a face. "I'll go find another place to wait and you two can chat about detective-y things. I don't like it when _you_ talk about Kid-sama. He's a _wonderful_ magician."

"We're not faulting his skills," Conan corrected smoothly, "merely the application of them in the criminal sphere." This Kuroba person seemed partially appeased by that, but still left the detective pair to their own devices for a tree planted along the street. "Let's speak loudly about previous investigations just to spite him."

Hakuba chortled. "Have you read the Historical Unsolved Mysteries series? It's a collection of real cases that occurred over a century ago."

"My number has been blacklisted at their publisher's office because I kept calling them with the solution the mysteries." If the cases had been modern, the publishers might have been pleased, but because there was no one left alive to arrest, they just wanted to capitalize on the mysteries presented by these successful murders.

"So I'm not the only one they've done that to?"

"No. Did you solve the one about the duck and the lingerie…?"

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Hakuba sat in his room staring at his psychology books, repeating to himself like a mantra: _I am not a pedophile_. His interest in Edogawa Conan was purely platonic. Strictly intellectual curiosity for such a fascinating detective. Right. Now if he could convince himself of that, then perhaps he could act normally the next time he encountered the child.

His logical side reminded him that he really wasn't interested in the kid's tiny body. It was that brilliant mind he wanted to wrap his arms around and study until all the little puzzles unraveled like a knit sweater in the face of a cat. That helped, but only barely, because it still forced Hakuba to admit how often he lost his breath when staring into those sharp blue eyes. And he didn't remember having a thing for glasses before Conan.

There was a Kid heist tonight in Beika, but with his mind in such a tizzy, Hakuba wondered if he should even go. His better angels told him to stay home, cool off, and sort his thoughts out, even if it meant revenge from Kid for skipping the event. His inner demons wanted to go and kidnap Conan for cuddling. In the end he compromised – Hakuba went to the heist, with a strict promise to himself that there would be no snuggling of adorable detectives.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

"How are things on your end?" The Beikan murmured into his Conan phone. "Are you ready?"

"We're all set, Cool Kid," Jodie replied on the other end. "Don't get your hopes up, though. They may not show tonight."

"They weren't at the last Kid heist, so they'll probably be here. Text me when your team's spotted one and start the evacuation." Conan hung up after her reply, peering around to make sure no one was looking at him strangely. _Good._ He scanned the crowds; tonight was supposed to be a big show. _Maybe even bigger than they know. If we can get to the Black Organization through their weaker branch, we have a shot at taking them out. We just have to capture all of the members here._

"Good evening, Conan-kun."

Conan whipped around, surprised. "Hakuba-niichan! I didn't know you were coming tonight." Then, feeling the need to explain, he added, "Beika's a bit far for you and tonight's heist is late. Will you be able to get a train afterwards?"_ Leave,_ Conan mentally requested. _Not tonight, Hakuba. I don't want you here when things get dangerous._

"I think I'll be fine. Conan-kun… is something the matter?"

He felt his phone vibrate, and confirming the message with a sideways look – _Operation Silver Forge is a go_ – inspiration struck. "I need you to go to the back of the crowd and quietly start evacuating the audience. Tell them that someone who is insanely anti-Kid has planted a bomb, or that there's a gas leak in the building. Anything they'll believe. They need to _get out_."

Hakuba's gaze sharpened in understanding, suddenly serious. "What's going on?"

"The snipers are here, and I have it on good authority that they won't be staying in the shadows tonight. None of us want any civilian casualties."

"What will you be doing?"

"Trying to keep people safe, same as you." This was both true and misleading; Conan's job was to help make sure the FBI captured all members present tonight from the branch Organization – he wouldn't be leaving with Hakuba and the rest of the audience. Conan was all-in. _This is our best chance._

"What about Kid?"

Conan blinked. "I don't think he'll have a problem with us evacuating people. 'No one gets hurt' is his policy too."

Hakuba shook his head. "No, what I mean is, have you told him? Does he know that things are going to be more active tonight? He's probably got his Kevlar, but that won't stop a bullet to the head."

"There's still twenty minutes until the heist. It's on my to-do list. I have to _find_ him first."

"He'll want to stay and help," Hakuba told Conan. "Tell him something that will get him out of the line of fire. Better yet, ask him to take you home when you leave. You're his most physically fragile detective; he'll do it."

"I'm going to ignore the 'physically fragile' part of what you just said and just promise that I will try my absolute best to get him to vacate the area." Hakuba nodded and started to walk away. "Wait!" The taller detective turned around. "One more thing." Conan gestured Hakuba closer, and the light-haired teen crouched down. The Eastern detective slipped his arms around Hakuba's neck, whispering: "Thank you, Hakuba."

"Anytime," he heard in reply. And since it was acceptable for children to give adults goodbye kisses, Conan brushed his lips across Hakuba's cheek as he let go.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

The street that had been crowded twenty minutes ago was almost empty. Hakuba had enlisted the taskforce officers to help, pinching his cheek before telling them a modified version of the situation. After being assured that another division was supervising the counterattack –though Hakuba had no idea if that was true – the officers were quick to slip into the crowd and quietly inform them that there was danger and that Kid would no doubt hear about it shortly and surely cancel the heist for the audience's safety. When couched in those terms, the public was reluctantly cooperative.

Hakuba watched as Nakamori-keibu was approached by a small group of people led by a blonde woman. She flashed a badge and pointed away from the heist location. Nakamori stiffened and looked ready to explode. _She must be telling him to leave._ They spoke for another minute and then the woman clicked on her radio and drew her gun, proceeding into the building flanked by her associated. Nakamori ordered his troops out of the area.

"Wait, Nakamori-keibu, what about Conan-kun?"

The man began pulling him away from the danger zone. "He's gone by now, Hakuba-kun. The FBI agents confirmed that everyone outside of their operation, except for the assassins, has been evacuated from the building and surrounding buildings. She _says_ that Kid left out a back entrance, because he's the group's target, and I have no choice but to believe her. If it's only her people and the criminals in there, and the agents are all fully aware of the mission, then there's no one for him to disguise as."

"I never saw Conan-kun leave. He was inside, going to tell Kid about the snipers."

"Then he probably left by the same exit Kid did."

Hakuba realized that Nakamori wasn't going to let him back into the building. He pretended to relax. "You're absolutely right, Nakamori-keibu. As soon as we're safe, I'll call him." Once Nakamori was distracted with other officers who wanted to know about the ongoing operation, Hakuba split from the group and circled back. He found an open window on the first floor that Kid had probably planned to utilize and made his way upwards, taking a quick look around each floor to locate Conan. _If I were planning to capture several snipers, I'd present bait in the building they're expecting their target to be in. Meanwhile, my other groups would be coming at them from behind._ Did that mean Conan was sneaking around to try and slip into the _bait_ group? That was _unacceptable_.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't hear other people in the hallway until he was surrounded. "Identify yourself," the blonde woman ordered.

"I can vouch for him," the agents' radios crackled.

"Conan-kun?" Hakuba asked, astonished.

"What the _hell_ are you doing back here, Hakuba?" Conan sounded furious, his voice darker than Hakuba had ever heard.

"You know him, then?" The blonde woman confirmed.

"Yeah, Jodie-sensei, he's a detective too. But he was _supposed to be evacuated,_" Conan finished.

Hakuba didn't back down. "Conan-kun, you're seven years old. You are the most intelligent child I've ever met, but you are in no way experienced enough to be here. I came back to get you safe."

"This was _my _plan," the kid retorted. He sighed over the radio. "Well, he can't leave now; they'll see him. Let's just continue as planned, Jodie-sensei." The woman he called Jodie-sensei turned around and the group began to follow her. Hakuba found himself following too. "The members in this building are stationed on the ninth floor and were probably set to fire when Kid used his glider from the roof – he'd have his back to them then. The ones on building #3 are stationed on the roof, like we thought. Building #2 members took the twelfth floor because it's got a good angle and the electric pole isn't in the way. _I_ would've gone for floor thirteen, but that's not important."

"Team 1 has their targets in sight," Jodie informed Conan. "Shuu just texted in the code."

"Good, if Akai-san's in position then the other groups will be shortly."

"Don't forget your promise," the female agent said.

"I haven't forgotten. I was hoping you wouldn't hold me to it, but… I'll wait here in the communications room for you. With Hakuba-niichan. I'll be available by radio if you need me, and the Black Org themselves couldn't stop me from attending the interrogations later." Hakuba didn't have time to ask any questions before an agent gently but firmly led him to the stairwell and down to the communications room.

Hakuba entered the room full of TV screens with video footage of the building they were in. "Conan –"

"Not now, Hakuba-niichan. Tonight, I may get the syndicate I've been tracking for a year. Tonight, I need you to trust me without question."

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Jodie waited until Conan and Hakuba were in the backseat to brief the tiny detective. "Three of them got away. Two from building #3 and one from building #2."

"I saw,"Conan replied. "How long do you think we've got?"

"Shuu regrouped his team after they turned over the captured members from building #1 to us, but even with Shuu keeping them on the run, one of them will find a moment to call Gin."

"And then we're dead," Conan finished. _Gin won't stop with just a test drug this time._

Hakuba cleared his throat pointedly. "You know, anytime you'd like to fill me in about what's going on, I'd be grateful."

Jodie flicked a glance at Conan in the rearview mirror. "Cool Kid?" _How far do you trust him?_ She was asking.

Conan took a deep breath. "Long story made extremely short, the FBI and I have been tracking a group we call the Black Organization for over a year, occasionally collaborating and sharing information about their activities. The Black Org is too formidable for us to take out without _very_ good intel, but we found out a few months ago that the snipers at Kid's heists work for an ostracized branch of the BO. They're like the crazy cousin that the Black Org would avoid at family gatherings. They're weaker. So we developed a plan to capture the snipers and get information about the BO's headquarters."

"Why are _you_ after them so doggedly?" Hakuba asked. Jodie-sensei looked back again, clearly interested in Conan's response as well. Conan stared holes into the back of the driver's seat, but didn't answer. _They stole my body. They stole the relationships I had with friends and family as Shinichi. I've lost those for a year now. Nothing they can do can bring that time back. Things will be very different when I become Shinichi again, _if_ I become Shinichi again._

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Hakuba found himself being shuffled around at the temporary FBI base, trying not to be too offended that he was stuck in the break room while Conan got to watch the interrogations. After 1 hour 3 minutes and 26.508 seconds of him trying to deduce more clearly what was going on and coming up with nothing realistic, Conan, Jodie-sensei, and a group of other agents trooped into the break room and sat down around the table too.

"We don't have much time," Jodie stated. "We need something concrete to break them."

"What could break those monsters?" Conan muttered. He looked dangerous.

"Something they can't kill," another female agent suggested sarcastically. "That oughta scare them. Someone get the phantom in here." Hakuba winced at the idea of the havoc Kid could wreak in an FBI base.

"The Phantom Thief 1412 disappeared after Cool Kid talked to him," Jodie explained at the same time as Conan sat bolt upright.

"A ghost," the child breathed, eyes glittering. "What if we show them someone they think is dead? Someone that Gin failed to kill? That might shock them into revealing more than they want."

The room went dead silent. "You know someone like that?" Jodie asked, eyebrows raised. Hakuba found himself leaning forward as well.

Conan was already dialing a number on his phone. "It's me, Haibara," he said clearly. "Get over to the address I'm texting you ASAP. The FBI needs Kudo Shinichi." Hakuba made a noise of surprise and it seemed like Jodie recognized the teen's name too.

"How's Kudo-kun involved in this?" she asked.

"Same way I am. Tell your security to let Haibara-chan in with whatever she's carrying. Shinichi-kun will be right behind her." Hakuba noticed that while the agents began planning tactics for interrogation again, Conan slipped from the room. The teen detective followed and watched from around a corner as a little girl handed Conan a bottle of pills and a small backpack.

"Don't go running off to your friends once you're done here," Haibara ordered.

"Please, like I'd do that. If we get this right then we may even get Anokata. Then, getting your notes won't be a problem and we can cure our mutual condition."

"You're getting ahead of yourself. Get the information before you start celebrating your return, hmm? And I'm warning you, this one is gonna hurt."

Conan snorted. "Doesn't it always?" Hakuba frowned. _The girl is talking about the pills. It could be some kind of medication that Conan takes. But which medicines take away symptoms without taking away the pain?_ Conan popped open the bottle and shook out one capsule, returning the container to her after screwing the cap back on. "I was willing to take the risk, but as long as I don't scream and no one's watching the camera in the hallway with the bathrooms, our cover might not be blown." Hakuba was an inch from revealing himself and confiscating the tablet from the child. _"As long as I don't scream"? Is the medicine dangerous?_

He was stopped by the girl's next words. "Take the Black Org out tonight and we may not need our cover anymore." Haibara smirked wickedly. "Aren't you looking forward to telling your friends where you've been all this time?"

Conan groaned. "Ugh, don't remind me. I anticipate being black-and-blue for a month. Maybe I can hide out in Osaka with Hattori – Ran can't kill me if she can't find me." Hakuba noted the change in honorifics, or rather the lack of them.

"Will you tell the kids?"

"I think we're getting ahead of ourselves again, Miyano-chan."

"Don't you _dare_ call me that in _here_ of all places, corpse magnet." She flicked him on the forehead and turned to leave, calling backwards, "Good luck, or something. You can bring me Gin's head as a thank-you." _What a morbid little girl. _Then another thought occurred: _Miyano isn't her first name. Well, it could be her mother's maiden name, or a nickname. Or perhaps she's in witness protection?_

"You'll have to settle for a color copy of his arrest warrant," Conan called after her before heading into the bathroom with the backpack and pill.

Mind still racing, Hakuba took his time filling a paper cup at the water fountain so he could watch the door to the men's room. He heard some gasping and muttered curse words, then a long silence before the sound of clothes rustling broke it. It was only then that Hakuba remembered Conan talking about Haibara as a genius and a chemist. _No… he wouldn't test out her experiments. Conan's no fool._ Hakuba worried all the same.

The door opened and Hakuba almost dropped the cup. Instead of Conan, a teenager that looked just like him without glasses strolled out, buttoning up a black blazer. He was stunningly beautiful, with a noticeably _aware_ look in his eyes, a confident stride, and that distinctive tuft of hair sticking up in the back. The stranger smiled to himself, and Hakuba wondered when he'd fallen asleep and dreamed up this grown-up version of Conan. Hakuba had… well, _fantasized_ was the wrong word. "Imagined," that was better. He had _imagined_ Conan at seventeen. For platonic reasons, of course. Just a mental exercise.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

Shinichi hadn't expected the other detective to be outside the door, and recognized that there was no plausible way to explain this except with the truth. He felt his smile widen and his stomach flipped over pleasantly. "Hello, Hakuba."

Hakuba's expression shifted as he clearly took in the recognition that Shinichi hadn't bothered to hide. "You're…?"

_Who knows if I'll be around to explain it later? Should I…? Eh, what the hell._ Shinichi approached Hakuba and touched his lips to Hakuba's cheek the way he had as Conan only hours ago. He heard the other's breath hitch and bit back a relieved grin. Hakuba wasn't totally disinterested in him romantically. It was a start. "Nice to meet you properly. My name's Kudo Shinichi, high school detective." He drew back, his fingers running over Hakuba's hands fondly. "We're going to be very busy for a few hours, but when things have slowed down, I'll answer all your questions. I promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Hakuba replied. "What do you need right now?"

_A kiss for luck?_ Part of him suggested hopefully. "Your trust, still."

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

As a detective, Hakuba was pretty decent at filling in the blanks in strange situations. However, after 12 straight hours and 33.001 seconds of rounding up BO members with Kudo Shinichi (after Hakuba was filled in on the Black Organization situation), he still hadn't figured out how or why Shinichi was Conan. None of the individuals arrested were the one called Anokata or Gin, who seemed to be at the top of Shinichi's personal hit list.

When lunchtime rolled around and Shinichi was still refusing to take a break, Jodie ordered him home. "I will not have you failing when we need you, Kudo-kun."

"But I don't have time –"

"Your house, Kudo-kun. Sleep. And then you can explain to me what was so important that Cool Kid had to run off from this mission that _he_ planned."

Shinichi sighed, frustrated. "I guess he'll be explaining it to you himself."

"Hakuba-kun, you go home too."

"My house is closer," Shinichi pointed out. "I've got guest bedrooms. Come on, Hakuba." So he took the light-haired teen back to the Kudo mansion, sitting the other detective down at the kitchen table and making enough ramen for two.

"Questions," Shinichi prompted when they'd moved into the living room after lunch.

It was so obvious in retrospect, Hakuba realized. _"Imagine me in ten years and you'll have a pretty good picture of him." _The sly wording kept him from outright lying._ "Some people believe that he's dead."_ Which was also true, apparently, because the members of the branch Org had flipped when Kudo appeared and revealed that he'd escaped Gin. _"How's the Kid hunt going?" _Conan had immediately changed the subject after answering Hakuba's questions. His extensive experience with kanji and fluency in English had been surprising when found in a seven-year-old, but now made complete sense, as did Hattori hanging out with an elementary school kid and always mentioning Kudo. Hakuba vividly recalled Conan laughing his ass off when it was suggested that Kudo was Hattori's idol. Hakuba understood the amusement now.

Shinichi cleared his throat while Hakuba continued to think. "Okay, then I'll start the story and you interrupt. Kudo Shinichi is who I really am. I oversaw a transaction between the BO and someone they were blackmailing, and I got caught." He winced remembering it. "I was stupid. They gave me an experimental drug that was supposed to cause cell death and be untraceable. However, it didn't kill me. My cells were de-aged instead of killed, and I woke up a seven-year-old with my seventeen-year-old mind and memories. If the Black Org had gotten any hint that Kudo Shinichi was still alive, I and anyone I knew would have been killed, so I improvised. I made up an alias and got myself adopted into a detective's home so I could search for hints to the BO."

"Who else knows?"

"Agasa-hakase and my parents. Hattori figured it out after two cases – I was less experienced with my child façade back then." He rolled his eyes, and then locked gazes wit Hakuba again. "Haibara, for obvious reasons." _Obvious reasons? _Oh. She was another one like Shinichi. "And a couple other people are suspicious, but who would come up with the idea that I'm the same person as Conan? I can change back for a few hours if..." he trailed off. "You're really beautiful, Hakuba-kun."

"Sorry?" Hakuba uttered, not following the logic for a moment there.

Shinichi blinked slowly. "You're really beautiful. I've been keeping eye contact with you since I started my explanation and I felt I should tell you. I mean, I was having a difficult time thinking about anything else." The English detective felt his face color. "I'm not sure if you've deduced as much, but I want to say that I care for you. Very deeply."

"And I you," Hakuba replied, something in his chest fluttering. He felt a little dizzy too. "I wanted you to be my age so badly. I want to know all of you."

Shinichi raised his eyebrows at the implication there, amused, but then turned serious again. "I started to say this before, but the poison –" A shudder passed through him and he suddenly clutched his chest, face contorted in pain. "Ah, speak of the devil." He recovered after a moment, and explained, "The poison I took hasn't been cured. I can take Haibara's antidotes and get my body back, but only for a few hours or days. Right now my body's default setting is Conan." He paused significantly. "Is that still okay… for now? If we get the whole BO down, Haibara can get her notes back and speed up the process of synthesizing a permanent cure."

"She worked for them," Hakuba deduced.

"Yes."

Shinichi didn't say anything else, and Hakuba realized that he hadn't answered Kudo's question. "It's fine." He tentatively brushed the back of his hand along Shinichi's cheek. "We can work out the emotional components of our… relationship… until the, ah, physical components become feasible."

"And legal," Kudo muttered. Hakuba snorted, and Kudo did too until another spasm of pain wracked his body. "You don't have to watch," Shinichi panted as he curled in on himself, another twinge visibly hitting him. "I've been told it's gruesome."

"I'll hold you," Hakuba promised, drawing the other teen into his arms and hugging him tight, shutting his eyes and praying he could forget the sounds of pain coming from Shinichi. The whimpering eventually stopped, and Hakuba was holding Conan in too-big clothes.

"Where's my backpack?" Conan asked, all business now that the pain had passed. "It weird; I don't even need glasses to see properly, but now when I'm Conan I feel naked without them. By the door maybe?" he suggested, more to himself than Hakuba, before climbing down off Hakuba and the couch.

"I thought we were taking a nap before going back into action," Hakuba reminded him. "You don't need your glasses for that. Get back up here and sleep with me."

"_Hakuba."_

"I meant actually sleeping, Kudo-kun."

"You _better_ have meant actually sleeping. I'm physically seven."

"It was implied by the context. Goodness, I thought you were a detective or something, Beika."

"Shut it, Ekoda," Conan replied, crawling back into Hakuba's arms. The taller detective pulled a blanket off the back of the sofa and wrapped them both up, Hakuba planting a kiss on the other's forehead before they both settled in for a short break from saving the country.

xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx

From Meri: In my head "Detectives Aligned" was going to be about 15-20 double-spaced pages, but it morphed into this monstrosity when the idea for the Black Org take-down happened (final page count: 35). I quite like it, and sincerely hope you did too.

I have a note that is sort of a spoiler for Chapter 896... okay, you've had time/space to look away, so here it is: I deliberately put Akai back into action with the FBI because he was confirmed to be alive :D (END SPOILER)

I'm always looking to improve my writing, so please leave a review, even if it's just comment about a line you liked or hated or thought was really in-character. Thanks!


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